


Masked Truths/Kindred

by paynesgrey



Category: V (2009)
Genre: F/M, Ficlet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-21
Updated: 2010-04-21
Packaged: 2020-10-04 12:21:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20470943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paynesgrey/pseuds/paynesgrey
Summary: Lisa contemplates Joshua's true intentions and quickly notices something similar in Joshua.





	Masked Truths/Kindred

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the "yielding" theme at [](http://fanfic-bakeoff.livejournal.com/profile)[fanfic_bakeoff](http://fanfic-bakeoff.livejournal.com/).

Lisa felt a chill run through her body, simmering under her human skin and seeping into the scales of her true form. Joshua had saved her, and now he held something over her head that she didn't completely understand. She'd known him her entire life, and now he scared her, like she'd never really known him before.

Like her mother, it proved their kind inherited their own agendas, self-serving and not always clear above the surface. Like the human skins they took on, true motivations were hidden within. She didn't know what Joshua wanted, but she'd never been more curious. She felt impotent on the matter; he held her fate within his hands.

Lisa knew what her mother was like. She was capable of killing her own children if they were too weak and did not serve their purposes. Emotionless and calculated, her mother only wished that Lisa would inherit those traits from her. With Tyler, how did she expect to not form emotions? By being with him, kissing his lips and smelling his skin, did her mother really think she would not change? Lisa didn't want to yield to human emotions, and she wasn't sure if she wanted Joshua to cover for her. Yet she couldn't deny that he'd saved her.

She found him later, looking out into the Earth sky, and she watched him, searching for a loose expression that would illustrate his true intent. He was calm, contemplative, and Joshua turned to her when she approached. His stoic expression was firmly in place, but Lisa somehow sensed that something was troubling him.

"Beautiful day," Lisa commented, and Joshua gazed out the window again and turned to her eyes.

"It's just a day," he said, and his eyes seemed to pierce into her. Lisa nodded and tensed rigidly, noting his warning.

\--

They stood silently at the window, and Lisa began to mimic Joshua's guarded emotions. Joshua had lived longer than she had, so she felt he was a good model for how she should act around her mother. When she thought of her mother, her blood felt cold.

"I don't know what I can offer," she commented.

"You will realize your worth, even if Anna doesn't." His words seemed kind, Lisa thought, but it was also ominous and full of layers underneath an onion skin.

"You need to reverse whatever is changing me," she demanded.

Joshua turned slowly to her, scrutinizing her demeanor. His expression instantly cautioned her, and she willed herself to relax.

"It's not possible," he said. "Be warned, there will be more empathy tests." He said no more, but Lisa knew what he implied. She needed to train herself, focus and disregard all emotion even if her affection for Tyler increased. It would be too difficult, and she barely resisted her unyielding waves of panic.

Joshua only appeared more rigid and distant than before, and the more she prodded him, the more he closed himself off to her. She didn't blame him. He'd already taken a tremendous risk to hide her tests from her mother.

She just didn't know how she could repay him. Lisa stepped closer to Joshua, her hand reaching toward his behind his back. She watched him flinch, and she noticed a strange spark in his eyes - empathy, the kind that her mother would kill him over. Suddenly, Lisa saw Joshua much clearer, and she could use this against him if she was as nefarious as her mother.

Instead, she didn't feel malice, but rather an unexpected relief that he was experiencing the same. She realized this was just the beginning of her growing human emotions.  



End file.
